Trading activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday opened in an upward trend as volume of shares traded rose by 24 per cent.
The volume of stocks sold increased by 120.862 million as investors bought 559.768 million shares worth N5.490 billion in 5999 deals against 438.908 million shares valued at N4.872 billion traded in 5104 deals.
Also, the market capitalisation of listed equities improved by N100 billion to N12.527 trillion from N12.427 trillion traded on Friday while the NSE All Share Index (ASI), appreciated by 197.46 basis points to 38964.75 points from 38767.29 points traded the previous day.
An analysis of the transactions showed that Nigerian Breweries led the gainers table, appreciated by N3.00 to close at N145.00, Larfarge Wapco followed with a gain of N2.45 kobo to close at N109.45 kobo while Oando Plc, Stanbic IBTC and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) grew by N1.86 kobo, N0.90 kobo and N0.66 kobo respectively to close at N20.06 kobo, N19.95 kobo and N25.39 kobo.
On the other hand, Guinness Nigeria Plc topped losers chart, dropping by N9.42 kobo to close at N192.00, trailed by N3.00 to close at N122.00 while presco depreciated by N2.18 kobo to close at N41.58 kobo. Other stocks that recorded price depreciation were Forte Oil and PZ Cusson which loss N1.96 kobo and N1.51 kobo respectively to close at N93.04 kobo and N35.49 kobo.
Further analysis of the investment indicated that Zenith Bank recorded the highest volume of shares with account of 55.577 million shares worth N1.152 billion, Access Bank followed with exchange of 53.031 million shares valued at N429.632 million while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) sold 40.647 million shares worth N152.042 million. First City Monument Bank (FCMB)took fourth position as 39.335 million shares valued at N144.650 milllion and African Prudential Registra exchanged 39.170 million shares cost N131.882 million.
